Lecture 12: Slavery

This issue, foreshadowed in past lectures, is the one that drives the content of the course hereafter. Here we go back to colonial times to deal with the origins, decline, and tragic resurgence of human slavery in America. Then we trace the rise of this issue as a sectional controversy through 1850, when one more great compromise offered brief promise for preservation of the Union.

Outline of Lecture
Introduction	For a long time historians were reluctant to deal with slavery as the central issue at state in the Civil War, or race as a central issue in American society. Historians cannot shrink from such moral issues, but they also need to seek empathy with the historical figures of the past in order to understand what happened.
Slavery Entrenched in the South	Slavery, established in colonial times, seemed to be withering away in the early years of the republic. It came back, though, with the rise of the Cotton Kingdom in the South. The so-called peculiar institution not only became ingrained into southern life but also acquired the protection of law.
Thinking About Slavery	Slavery was a difficult issue for early Americans to approach, first because given their values, they could not see how to solve the problems of economic and race that would accompany emancipation. Moreover, discussion of the issue was radicalized, southerners voicing intractable arguments in favor of slavery, northerners condemning them just as loudly.
Uneasy Compromise	Slavery was entrenched, but it was vulnerable in certain aspects: slavery in DC, and the handling of fugitive slaves. The main focus of controversy, however, was the possibility of slavery extended into the western territories. This was an explosive issue, involving several states and territories, apparently settled by the Compromise of 1850.

Assignments
Tocqueville	Chapter 9: “Liberty of the Press in the United States.” In the lecture on slavery we encounter a peculiar example of reform journalism—the abolitionist press. By reading Tocqueville's remarks on the press in general, you will come to see how remarkable the abolitionist press was. • Journalists sometimes do irresponsible things and print things they shouldn't. (Many southerners said this was the case with the abolitionist press.) According to Tocqueville, is there any way to regulate this sort of behavior? • With so many newspapers, why wasn't the press in Tocqueville's America powerful and dangerous? • Many people today are concerned with the abuse of free speech on the Internet. Can you apply Tocqueville's observations to this later situation?
WWW	Slavery and the Old South remain shrouded in clouds of romance. For instance, Gone with the Wind is now out in cheap video and DVD. Take a look around the GWTW Webring, with its more than eighty fan sites, and consider how this phenomenon of popular culture may affect our images of history.

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